CALIFORNIA, GREECE, SPAIN AND ITALY HAVE PLENTY IN COMMON

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s recent likening of California to Greece, Spain and Italy drew a sharp response from Gov. Jerry Brown. His press secretary, Gil Duran, denounced Romney and said conditions in California were the “exact opposite” of what was seen in those struggling European nations.

The Associated Press story on the contretemps noted that the debt and credit-rating woes of the nations were much worse than the Golden State’s. But Romney’s point was that “entrepreneurs and businesspeople” see California, Greece, Spain and Italy in a similar light. For anyone who has read The Economist for any period of time, that’s not exactly a controversial observation.

It’s not just the fiscal irresponsibility shown in California’s chronically dishonest budgets. It’s in the huge impediments to economic growth created by high taxes, rigid regulations and fears of new burdens being imposed. As in many European nations, our state’s most powerful leaders simply don’t believe that how governments behave can kill jobs and stymie growth.

California’s unemployment rate is much higher than the U.S. rate and has been for years. Why? Because of hostility to the private sector that leads the nation’s CEOs to perennially rank California as the least business-friendly state of all.

In the other megastates, there is a bipartisan urgency when it comes to helping the economy. In Albany, Democrats and Republicans alike work together to help New York’s banking, finance and telecommunication industries. In Austin, they ally to aid Texas’ energy, aeronautics and agriculture interests. In Tallahassee, they team to boost Florida tourism and international trade.

But in Sacramento, subsidized “green” industries and large construction projects backed by unions win the enthusiastic support of the majority party – and nothing else.

Instead, higher taxes are constantly sought, whether in the Legislature or on the ballot. Job-creation bills are held hostage to try to force Republicans to vote for tax hikes. New regulations are added with scarcely a second thought. Strangest of all, the state is implementing a law that will force energy to cost much more here than in rival states and nations, creating a huge additional competitive disadvantage for our exports – and the law is depicted as helping the economy!

It is absolutely mystifying that the biggest issue in Sacramento isn’t the fact that one in five California adults who want a full-time job can’t find one. This indefensible attitude is what “entrepreneurs and businesspeople” – job creators – see in California.

Is this precisely parallel to what’s going on in Greece, Spain and Italy? Of course not. But as in those nations, California doesn’t do nearly enough to promote a vibrant, unfettered free market.

It isn’t just Milton Friedman acolytes who say the state’s most powerful leaders don’t care enough about nurturing the broad private-sector economy. It’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, an experienced businessman. We await Gil Duran’s denunciation of Newsom for pointing out the obvious.